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September 25, 2006

USSC releases official priorities

As discussed here, last week I received early and positive news about the US Sentencing Commission's official statement of priorities for the guideline amendment cycle ending May 1, 2007. The USSC's official notice of its priorities is now available here from the USSC's website. Though the official notice is not as inspiring as the early report I received, more than a few of the USSC's stated priorities are quite notable and encouraging:

[T]he Commission has identified the following priorities: . . .

(4) continuation of its work with the congressional, executive, and judicial branches of the government and other interested parties on cocaine sentencing policy, including holding a hearing on this issue and reevaluating the Commission's 2002 report to Congress, Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy;

(5) beginning of a guideline simplification effort to develop and consider possible options that might improve the overall effectiveness of the sentencing guidelines;

(6) continuation of its policy work, in light of the Commission's prior research on criminal history, to develop and consider possible options that might improve the operation of Chapter Four (Criminal History)....